Classified deal goes wrong. What do you do if you were me?

[WV Mountaineer]

I'll try to keep this short and to the point, but I really do not know how to handle this situation.

I've been buying and selling stuff on here for awhile and on Archery talk for almost 10 years. Predominantly bows and archery equipment

ZERO issues. I have literally never had a problem.




The other day I was selling a lot with 2 bow stabilizers and a back bar mount for a couple hundred bucks. Pretty fair price for the set. JoeBlow buys it from me. Pays fast. I ship it out by the next day. Same old routine with classified sales.



Heres where the trouble starts. almost 2 weeks after I shipped it, this guy reaches out to me. Sends me a picture of the envelope and one stabilizer and says "I only got one, I'm missing the other one and the back bar".

How is that possible? I personally packaged that envelope(with all 3 pieces obviously), taped it, and handed it to the person at USPS.

The part that bothers me is he tried to say I never sent him tracking(I did, and screenshot that and forwarded back to him) and then continues to say this was originally delivered to the wrong address and that's why he opened it so late, almost a week after it was delivered. I went back and checked the tracking. It says it was delivered on time, a week earlier, in his mailbox



This guy is asking for a refund and saying he'll send my one stabilizer back.


I dont know if he's trying to dupe me or what, but even if he's not, I dont know how to handle this.


What would you do?


**this is from a deal on Archerytalk. I didn't want the member to see it and get involved. I'm not trying to talk smack, I'm legitimately looking for opinions on the matter.

Refund him. He doesn’t have what you sold. It was stolen by the usps. It happens more then you think and has happened to me several times.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Any time someone complains about the cost of shipping I think about this. The price we pay to have an army of people and a diesel truck and jet fuel airplane deliver our ridiculous stupid special package across the country in 3 days is absurd. Whether it’s 15.00 or 500.00. It’s still a bargain.

And to expect excellence from a person in a job/compensation/environment that doesn’t demand it, says a lot more about us than it does them.

The externalities of modern civil society…

I never have understood this rationale. The shippers advertise a service for a fee. We pay it. They don’t deliver but we are supposed to sympathize with the lack of commitment to do what they advertised they’d do. SMDH.

You can’t make this stuff up.

What happened to the expectation of doing what you say you are going to do? No one is holding shipping businesses hostage in this civilization. And no one is holding a gun to their head and making them set their prices. They are setting their own price, in an open market, and promising consumers a service for it. It’s called marketing. And, it’s their call on what they market.

How in hades does this translate to an unrealistic consumer when shippers fall short of their end of an agreement?

 

[jayhawk]

Using USPS was your first mistake (don't feel bad though. It happens to all of us).

2nd, everyone, for the love of god, BUY INSURANCE. It's only a few dollars more to get maximum liability from USPS (which is $5000) no matter the cost of the item. I do this for my checked baggage for $10k when I fly and, trust me, they don't lose it. Ever.

File a lost/stolen appeal to USPS, refund the guys money, and be done with it. I think you have a good case that it was stolen.

 

[Coffindaffer]

Y’all, I already said how I handled this, but thanks for your input

I refunded the guys money even though his story didn’t line up

I didn’t want the bad juju on me. I assume he was being honest though, because he sent the smaller stab back to me.

I tried to claim with usps because it had basic $50 coverage which would have been at least half the amount lost.

They basically told me to punch sand, so I can’t see where paying a few dollars more for another $100 of insurance would have made two craps



It is what it is. $200 won’t change my life. I’m done with usps and learned a lesson about rushing to get something in the mail for someone at 5 o clock on a Friday.

 

[Coffindaffer]

Also, I realized the guy paid me F&F. I didn’t
legally owe this guy his money back. I could have been a piece of garbage and ghosted him.

Again, I gave him his money back because I wouldn’t have wanted to been on the other end of that situation. Hopefully it brings me some good karma in future deals on the buying end.

 

[Coffindaffer]

Why in the world did y’all revive this old, already solved issue

Get some sleep boys

 

[frogman43]

I agree, this situation does suck.....for both of you! He's not happy and you're not happy, however it really boils down to just one thing.....it's YOUR name and reputation on the line here. What's protecting it worth to you?

Again, I regret to hear this happened, hope you come to a conclusion that will give both of you peace of mind.

Frog----OUT!

 

[Pickettpuncher]

Using USPS was your first mistake (don't feel bad though. It happens to all of us).

2nd, everyone, for the love of god, BUY INSURANCE. It's only a few dollars more to get maximum liability from USPS (which is $5000) no matter the cost of the item. I do this for my checked baggage for $10k when I fly and, trust me, they don't lose it. Ever.

File a lost/stolen appeal to USPS, refund the guys money, and be done with it. I think you have a good case that it was stolen.

That insurance is worth less than the piece of paper it’s wrote on. Most claims get denied. It’s never their fault. And if the package is lost, they’ll tell you to wait another week.

 

[gbflyer]

Living in remote Alaska we send and receive literally hundreds of parcels a year via USPS. Anything from guns to groceries. In 26 years I have had 1 insurance claim. 1. And they paid it. The service is not perfect. Things get here a little slower these days. Couple of days more. Generally speaking any loss or damage 99.9% if the time is due to poor packaging. Midway USA as an example will send a box of bullets (not loaded cartridges) sliding around in an oversized box with one air pillow. Yeah, that probably ain’t gonna fly. Can’t blame the post when the box gets here with an end busted out.

I always get a kick out of the “USPS worker stole it”. USPS has armed postal inspectors. All the gold concentrates here get shipped south via USPS. There are no doubt gaps, but Brown and FEDEX cannot even play when it comes to OPSEC.

I’ll go one further. If a vendor refuses to use USPS due to company policy, it is my company policy to find another vendor.

 

[LostArra]

I never have understood this rationale. The shippers advertise a service for a fee. We pay it. They don’t deliver but we are supposed to sympathize with the lack of commitment to do what they advertised they’d do. SMDH.

You can’t make this stuff up.

What happened to the expectation of doing what you say you are going to do? No one is holding shipping businesses hostage in this civilization. And no one is holding a gun to their head and making them set their prices. They are setting their own price, in an open market, and promising consumers a service for it. It’s called marketing. And, it’s their call on what they market.

How in hades does this translate to an unrealistic consumer when shippers fall short of their end of an agreement?

We have become a society that accepts 70% performance while we are required to pay 100% of the bill.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Y’all, I already said how I handled this, but thanks for your input

I refunded the guys money even though his story didn’t line up

I didn’t want the bad juju on me. I assume he was being honest though, because he sent the smaller stab back to me.

I tried to claim with usps because it had basic $50 coverage which would have been at least half the amount lost.

They basically told me to punch sand, so I can’t see where paying a few dollars more for another $100 of insurance would have made two craps



It is what it is. $200 won’t change my life. I’m done with usps and learned a lesson about rushing to get something in the mail for someone at 5 o clock on a Friday.

Did the right thing, I’ve bought and sold stuff over the years and only been burned by one sale of MR pack. Guy got it and claimed it wasn’t as advertised ( it was in great shape) and then did the whole paypal refund him a bunch of money or I could pay 80 bucks to get it shipped back. I took a 200 dollar loss and let him walk if he wanted to be a jerk and play some BS that is on him and will catch up with him. Same deal here

 

[SpringM1A]

Always report to the mods and next time ask for custom photo.

 

[drra]

I had a box arrive with half of the contents (books) gone probably ten years ago. The top of the box had blown out and they taped it back up. I've also had stuff show up damaged. Somebody gets screwed, I think i'm still ahead dollar wise by not insuring as that adds up in a hurry.

 

[kf1128]

i have had some pretty bad experiences with USPS with both damaged and lost packages, which is why i generally use UPS these days. When shipping anything of value it generally pays to get the xtra insurance and document with pics how you packed the items. I've found that the first line of defense for damage with both UPS and USPS is to blame the way you packaged it.

 

[harge57]

If you do refund it make sure you do it through the PayPal transaction.

Don't sent the guy a seperate $200 only to have him refund the original PayPal amount/order too.

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